


Breaking Up Fake Days

by ryukoishida



Series: Letters from the Sky [1]
Category: Free!
Genre: Airline AU, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-07
Updated: 2014-07-07
Packaged: 2018-02-07 19:23:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1910802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryukoishida/pseuds/ryukoishida
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s time for Haruka to take his first step towards the sky. Maybe it’s also time for Makoto to let him go.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Breaking Up Fake Days

**Author's Note:**

> Don’t worry, it’s not going to be angst. Much. Title comes from Alice Nine’s “Daybreak”. Based on paradigmation’s awesome airline AU.

            There’s always something very soothing – yet at the same time frightening – every time a plane roars over his head. Makoto grows up with that sound constantly surrounding him like a second layer of atmosphere. He breathes it all in: the low humming, the shadow casted, the breeze triggered by its movement, its presence and immense strength.

 

            His father works at Narita International Airport as an engineer, so sometimes, he’d bring his son to the hanger, where numerous of metal birds stand majestically and still, towering over Makoto like some sort of frozen monsters waiting to be awaken – to crush him and devour him.

 

            When little Makoto asks his dad why he’d want to work on such a big, scary monster, Mr. Tachibana smiles a little, looking up at the nose of the MD-11 and explains, “The plane is like an enormous wild animal. It might look intimidating to people who fear and know very little about it because of its size and the loud snarl it makes, but to people like us – people who work with them, pilots, engineers, crews – they are gentle giants. They carry us across the sky safely, but in order to do so, we have to take care of them and fix them when they’re injured. Do you see, Makoto?”

 

            The young boy tries, and for some time, he learns to look past the cold, harsh exterior of their skin and the chilling extreme of their height.

 

            Haruka, his best friend since very young, is a fellow sky watcher.

 

            While other children their age spend their time running around in the playground, these two would locate the tallest building with a rooftop they can find in the vicinity and attempts to break in. When they succeed, they would spend hours just lying there, arms pillowed behind their heads, watching as one plane after another fly over them, their gigantic structures overshadowing everything in their paths.

 

            Haruka would point out the different models of the planes, and Makoto would ask him questions. Sometimes, the dark-haired boy is able to respond to his questions, but on days he can’t, he stays quiet, mulling it over with a frown on his youthful complexion as if it is of utmost importance to find the correct answer, as if it’s a matter between life and death.

 

            Perhaps to Haruka, it _is_ a matter of life and death.

 

            He has long decided that he wants to become a pilot as soon as he’s old enough to join the cadets. Makoto doesn’t even hesitate when he declares that he will be by his side, flying by his side, too. But that was all before the incident that happened on an early spring day in 2009.

 

-

 

            It’s five years later. Makoto and Haruka find themselves among the crowds of the airport, both of them looking somewhat lost for words. The departure gate is busier than usual, it seems; conversations and farewells in a frenzied cacophony fill in the silence between the two boys.

 

            No, not boys anymore. They are young men now, ready to take flight on their respective journeys – Haruka to the skies, and Makoto to…

 

            “What will you do?” Haruka’s voice is so soft that it’s almost lost to the dissonance of the airport.

 

            Makoto understands where his friend is going with the question, and the promise from so many years ago – the promise that they will take to the sky and conquer it together someday – leaves a bitter taste at the back of his throat. How can he admit this to Haruka?

 

            “I don’t know yet,” Makoto feigns a smile, eyes averted, “but I’ll figure something out.”

 

            “Are you still thinking about that?” Haruka steps a little closer to the taller boy, his tone still calm and controlled.

 

            “That?”

 

            “The promise we made when we were children.” Haruka’s hand reaches out for Makoto’s and he’s a bit surprised because his best friend almost never initiates physical contact, so when he does something like this, Makoto knows that he really means it.

 

            “Haru…” He looks at their linked hands, and he can’t remember the last time Haruka has held him with such gentleness.

 

            “You should let it go, Makoto,” Haruka tells him quietly, pleads with him, knowing that the words coming out from his mouth at this moment will hurt what’s left of Makoto’s pride, and it’s hurting him, too. “You don’t have to force yourself to go through something you have excessive fear of; you know that. It won’t do you any good in the long run. That promise – it will only hinder you, and if you let it, it will only become a burden.”

 

            The words are cold and precise, and Makoto knows that it’s true, but the fact that it’s Haruka who says it without any hesitation cuts deeper than any other people ever can.

 

            “Is that what I’m becoming to you? A burden?” Makoto pulls his hand away – such a simple, insignificant gesture – but it’s taking everything in him just to breathe again, breathe in that void that was never there until then.

 

            “Makoto, what are you – ?” Haruka frowns, slightly bewildered.

 

            “Are you going to let me go, too, Haru?” He can understand that, he thinks. Haruka doesn’t need someone who will drag him down with his cowardice and weakness. Makoto understands everything, so why is he still crying?

 

            Makoto rubs his eyes roughly with the sleeve of his shirt, suddenly sensing the flash of rage towards Haruka and his constant ability to trigger the strongest emotion out of Makoto. Mostly though, that internal anger is aimed at himself, at his own failing, at his treacherous heart that won’t stop feeling and beating too quickly and hurting even when Haruka is about to say goodbye for the last time.

 

            “What are you talking about?”

 

           “You are striving for your dream, and you are so close to becoming what you’ve always wanted to be: a pilot, and here I am, afraid of even taking risks just because of a stupid accident from ages ago,” Makoto laughs with self-depreciation. It’s a harsh and foreign sound to Haruka’s ears, and he wants to make it stop.

 

            “Stupid Makoto,” Haruka mutters, stern blue eyes gazing into Makoto’s green, startled ones before Haruka pulls the taller boy forward and into his arms. The next sentence is muffled but Makoto can hear it loud and clear, “You don’t understand anything.”

 

            “Enlighten me.” His warm breath ruffles Haruka’s dark hair.

 

            “That accident had a more profound effect than we could understand, but Makoto,” Haruka’s arms tightened around his waist, head buried in the crook of his shoulder, “it’s not your fault. It never was. You are afraid of flying after that, and it’s nothing to be ashamed of. So what if we both broke that promise?”

 

            “You didn’t – ”

 

            “It doesn’t matter anymore,” Haruka releases Makoto despite his reluctance to let go of the warmth that his best friend has always given him unconditionally. He places a careful hand on the taller boy’s cheek, guiding him gently so that Makoto can look him in the eye. “We will just make a new promise.”

 

            “A new promise?”

 

            “Makoto,” Haruka swallows. Words are never his forte. His eyes flicker down to the ground for a short moment, and when he looks back up at Makoto, the glow of blue flames in Haruka’s eyes makes him shudder. “Promise me that you will wait for me. That no matter what road you choose to follow, you will still be here when I return.”

 

            “Training’s only for six months,” Makoto chuckles, but even that sounds hollow to his own ears. He’s not very good at pretending, and Haruka has always known that about him as well.

 

            “A lot can happen in six months,” Haruka says, a rueful smile on his lips.

 

            “I promise,” Makoto places his hand on top of his friend’s. “Haru, promise me you’ll come back in one piece, and please don’t get thrown out of an airplane or something ridiculous like that,” Makoto murmurs.

 

           “That’s what the training’s for,” Haruka replies, flicking Makoto’s nose, which causes him to laugh. “But fine, I promise.”

 

            “Good.” Makoto smiles, and this time, the familiar tenderness touches the bright green of his eyes. That’s the smile that Haruka has fallen in love with.

 

            Yes, Haruka Nanase is in love – has been for awhile now. Makoto doesn’t know it yet. He probably won’t know for at least another six months. Only when Haruka has succeeded in achieving his goal will he let himself confess.

 

            Only when he has fulfilled the promise they have both made when they were children – when he has done what Makoto wishes he himself can do, and he will do it for his sake, for both of their sakes no matter what – only then will Haruka tell Makoto how he truly feels. 

**Author's Note:**

> I think I’ve been writing too much light-hearted stuff lately that I’ve forgotten how to write angst, haha. I guess that’s a good thing? This is horrible. The next thing I write in the AU, I promise it’ll be comedy or porn…or both. Who knows?


End file.
